Methodology for the design of educational digital interfaces applying neurodesign concepts

Abstract

The development of digital teaching aids responds to the advances in the application of technologies in educational processes. Their design must be based on the analysis of the characteristics and needs of the students, the training process and the digital context. The selection of the conceptual, visual, relational and interactive elements of these aids define the user interface, which have a conceptual basis from the application of neurosciences. The neurodesign of educational digital interfaces is the result of a multidisciplinary research process that supports the configuration of visual and interactive elements, in order to guarantee the motivation and effectiveness of communication and therefore contributes to the learning processes. On the other hand, there are methodologies for the design applied to digital environments, graphic design, and the development of educational software, however, they do not have analysis dimensions that respond to the integration from the neurocognitive, didactic, semiotic-visual and techno-formative point of view for the design of educational digital interfaces, focused on guaranteeing learning processes with the most effective technologies. Based on the above, the objective of the research is to develop a methodology for the design of educational digital interfaces using the application of neurodesign. These references allowed for the conception of four phases of the methodology: Phase I: where the users, the teaching process and the available technology are diagnosed; the design objectives are defined; the design hypothesis is formulated and the communicative intention of the user interface is determined. Phase II: aimed at selecting the interface components according to their characteristics, established requirements, and determining their visual codes. Phase III: the user interface of the educational software is developed, visual elements and structure of the screens, interaction design, information architecture, and the navigation map from requirements, creating partial tests that validate its conception. Phase IV: which responds to the validation of the interface with real users through satisfaction tests involving the work team, stakeholders, and potential users in the deployment context. The methodology provided has been validated in different educational software development processes for more than 10 years. Its implementation accelerates the design process, minimizes the time loss for improvement concepts, incorporates satisfaction tests and heuristic evaluation within the interface evaluation process, while contributing to compliance with design criteria according to a neurocognitive approach, which favor a better interface configuration and greater user satisfaction for the learning process.